Once Upon A Time! IFC - S1 : R34 entry

When I saw the subject of this weeks #IFC entry I totally geeked out. Time travel has always been something that has fascinated me, along with quantuum theories, the multiverse and anything well, just plain trippy.

I have to question what my mode of time travel will be. Will I be driving a DeLorean? Perhaps a Quantuum Leap Accelerator? Or maybe even a Tardis or Telephone Booth (Kinda the same thing really)?

Ok, I have decided. I will be taking my most, most excellent phone booth back to January 28, 1986. On this day in history the fated trip of the Space Shuttle Challenger unfolded in what seemed like slow motion for a majority of the day. I was in school and I will never forget that day.

I chose this date in time to go back into for several reasons. First, I would change this particular event from happening and second, this was my final year in high school and man oh man would I do some things differently from this point on.

So let's get packed and ready for our journey. These are the items I will be taking back in time with me:

1. My wife @juliabreheny. If anyone can keep me in line in the past, present or future it's definitely this woman.
2. My iPhone 8. This will be one badass piece of technology to be sporting when I go back in the past.
3. My travel acoustic guitar. It's small and compact but has a full fretboard and I can whip out some serious tunes on this bad boy.
4. Contact information for Challenger flight director Jay Greene. I'll need this in order to get the Challenger disaster from happening.
5. Some personal background information on Jay Greene from his past, present and future. I'm sure the guy is going to think I'm nuts when I call him and tell him to cancel the launch and that I am from the future.
6. A copy of the Rogers Commission Report. This commission was charged with investigating the Challenger explosion. This should hopefully lock it in with Jay Greene that he needs to cancel that launch.
7. Clothes. I'm definitely going to need to wear some clothes. Nothing fancy and I won't need any cold weather gear since I'll be arriving in Southern California.
8. A handful of guitar picks. There is nothing worse than grabbing a guitar and not being able to find a pick (unless you're playing finger-style).

Now it's time (pun intended) to go. I grab my dime and put it in the slot and... WHOOSH!

It worked! I'm standing on the lawn of my Fathers home on Kamstra Avenue in Cerritos, California. It's just a few minutes before 6:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, this gives me about 2 ½ hours to stop the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger. I whip out my iPhone and get ready to dial and then suddenly realize the CDMA technology which would be required to even get the shittiest signal on my phone won't be around for several more years. Dammit, I should have brought an old bag phone, WTF?

I decide to break into my Fathers old house and use the house phone (you remember those things that used to hang from a wall and had a long cord attached?). I tell Julia to wait for me in the backyard and I climb through an unlocked window on the side of the house. After letting Julia in through the side door I head for the kitchen and grab the phone off of the wall. It takes me about 10 minutes but I finally get through to Flight Director Greene and then another 20 minutes to get him to believe me about the impending disaster. I go over what I know about the faulty o-ring and he decides to scrap the launch for now while it's investigated. I am elated. Then it hits me, since I have come back in time that particular incident may not be about to happen. Well, as I always say, better safe than sorry. Just as I am hanging up the phone my father walks into the kitchen, looks at me and says "That must have been one hell of a party son, you look 30 years older." My dad was always wise like that, he knows something ain't right here and it's not easily discernible so he's not about to question it.

I tell my father that I have travelled back in time from the future and he just looks at me and says "No shit, that's pretty obvious son!" He asks me if I'm planning on going to school looking like a burnt out Keith Richards and I tell him I'm probably not. We spend some time catching up and he starts asking me questions about the future. I tell him everything that's happened but also that with my arrival back here in 1986 that the future has been unwritten. After a time he tells me he has to get to work but we'll catch up and play some guitar over a few beers when he gets home (I haven't told him I no longer drink yet). As he leaves he turns to me and says "You can still have your spot on the couch." That's when I decide to introduce him to my wife who's been silently waiting in the living room. They hug and then he walks out the front door to go work. It will be nice to catch up with him because I have missed him sorely since he passed away in 2013 which is 27 years from now. What a trip!

I look over to my wife @juliabreheny and smile at her, she lovingly returns my look and then says "Seriously Joey, we're sleeping on the fucking couch?"

This post is dedicated to the memory of the brave men and women who lost their lives on January 28, 1996:

Francis R. Scobee, Commander.
Michael J. Smith, Pilot.
Ronald McNair, Mission Specialist.
Ellison Onizuka, Mission Specialist.
Judith Resnik, Mission Specialist.
Gregory Jarvis, Payload Specialist.
Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist, Teacher.

Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

Special thanks goes to @bashadow for the awesome contest idea and trip down memory lane.

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